mtb žumberak

MTB Velebit: Šatorina

Country: Croatia
Mountain: Velebit
Length: 32 km
Elevation gain: 985 m
Maximum elevation:  1622 m
Technical difficulty: 5/5
Download GPS Track:  Satorina_expedicija
Date of ride: 08.08.2021
Suitable for e bike: No

After visiting Sveto Brdo and Visočica peaks, positioned on south Velebit, this time we decided it is time to go little bit north and visit middle Velebit and its peak Šatorina. I heard from a friend who bikes, about this peak, he hiked there and he advised me that it could be rideable. My biggest problem about visiting this peak was that I couldn’t find any useful gpx files that had enough hiking paths. Most of those gpx tracks were XC rides with tiny portions of singletrack trails on the peak. I took one day, drew some lines on existing trails (thank you koomot, great program for that kind of planning) and hoped for the best. My biggest fear was that I choose wrong direction of the trail, or that descents weren’t bike friendly and that we would end up carrying our bikes on descents.
This would be disaster because we were going into unknown and we already carried good amount of trail uphill.

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MTB Velebit: Visočica

Country: Croatia
Mountain: Velebit
Length: 32,5 km
Elevation gain: 1200 m
Maximum elevation:  1619 m
Technical difficulty: 5/5
Download GPS Track:  Velebit_Visočica_Cyclotrail
Date of ride: 31.07.2021
Suitable for e bike: Yes (if e-bike has push assistance)

I’ve got this gpx file from a friend of a friend. I altered it a little bit, cut down some macadam and along the way we shortened connecting macadam to the start of the route. All in all, we got great ride with hidden enduro/hiking trails that nobody rides.  That was way more than we expected from this ride.
We parked our car near camp Rizvan city and from there started our ride. First part is on flat asphalt road, and after  about 3 km we turned left on unpaved road that leads to Visočica peak. From there we continued to the end of the gravel road which comes soon after serpentines. Then starts hiking part that leads to the peak.  On the middle of the way there is mountain shelter, and near it there is rainwater tank from which we filled our bottles.

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MTB Sveta Gera/Trdinov vrh

Country: Croatia/Slovenia
Mountain: Žumberak
Length: 41 km
Elevation gain: 1630 m
Maximum elevation:  1178 m
Technical difficulty: 3/5
Download GPS Track: Sveta Gera_Trdinov vrh_Cyclotrail
Date of ride: 22.06.2021
Suitable for e bike: Yes

We decided to finally visit Sveta Gera (or Trdinov vrh on Slovenian). I’ve got a gpx file from Filip (on of the founders of Night riders Croatia) who recommended me to ride this trails as best of Sveta Gera. This track visits both side of border amongst Croatia and Slovenia, so you can say that this ride is illegal because there is no official border crossing. We started our ride from Sošice, it took us about hour and a half from Zagreb. Ascent from Sošice is on unpaved road at the beginning it is very easy not so steep, but as we were approaching peak, macadam became steeper and loose. It wasn’t so though for me because Ivan, Marko and Gojsi were riding E-bikes, so they gave me a boost on uphill sections.  After little rest on the peak we descended on the easy flow trail that goes along the ridge, and then we went on trails called Trdinka and Ciklama. Those trails are marked as black and red trails on trailforks, but for my website I classified them as 3/5 on technical difficulty. Ciklama and Trdinka are classic bike trails perfectly made by Slovenians, and those trails are ridden on Sloenduro competition. On the end of Ciklama trail we reached unpaved road on Slovenian side of Žumberak that leads to Sveta Gera/Trdinov vrh. This path easier than road on Croatian side, better maintained and not so steep. After reaching Sveta Gera peak for the second time, we descended once again on the flow trail that goes along the ridge and border, but after that trail end, we didn’t turned left, we continued forward on unpaved road.
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